AI exposure: Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
Set up, operate, or tend machines to saw, cut, shear, slit, punch, crimp, notch, bend, or straighten metal or plastic material.
Reading this score
computedAt 11.4% of weighted task load, Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic sits at the 17th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 82.5% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is embodiment. Across this occupation's 31 tasks it averages 2.69 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work has to happen in physical space. A language model cannot move matter. Until the robotics to do this work is both good enough and cheap enough to deploy widely, capability in software does not reach it.
The most exposed thing this job does is Plan sequences of operations, applying knowledge of physical properties of workpiece materials, at 55.0%. The least is Use equipment designed to join sheet metal, at 0.0%. A gap of 55.0% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within production occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 16.2% across the group's 107 roles, with 73 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 31 tasks, 6 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 25 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 0.69 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.69 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.25 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.34 | 0-3 |
| Context | 0.91 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 0.85 | 0-3 |
Task by task
31 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan sequences of operations, applying knowledge of physical properties of workpiece materials. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 3.92 | exposed |
| Read work orders or production schedules to determine specifications, such as materials to be used, locations of cutting lines, or dimensions and tolerances. | 41.7% | 20.8% | 37.5% | 4.47 | exposed |
| Start machines, monitor their operations, and record operational data. | 37.6% | 20.7% | 41.7% | 4.46 | exposed |
| Turn controls to set cutting speeds, feed rates, or table angles for specified operations. | 33.3% | 16.7% | 50.0% | 3.96 | exposed |
| Turn valves to start flow of coolant against cutting areas or to start airflow that blows cuttings away from kerfs. | 33.3% | 16.7% | 50.0% | 3.83 | exposed |
| Set blade tensions, heights, and angles to perform prescribed cuts, using wrenches. | 33.3% | 16.7% | 50.0% | 3.41 | exposed |
| Adjust ram strokes of presses to specified lengths, using hand tools. | 16.7% | 8.3% | 75.0% | 4.36 | untouched |
| Select, clean, and install spacers, rubber sleeves, or cutters on arbors. | 16.1% | 8.9% | 75.0% | 3.56 | untouched |
| Set up, operate, or tend machines to saw, cut, shear, slit, punch, crimp, notch, bend, or straighten metal or plastic material. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 4.41 | untouched |
| Preheat workpieces, using heating furnaces or hand torches. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 3.20 | untouched |
| Test and adjust machine speeds or actions, according to product specifications, using gauges and hand tools. | 14.2% | 10.8% | 75.0% | 4.23 | untouched |
| Operate forklifts to deliver materials. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | 3.57 | untouched |
| Sharpen dulled blades, using bench grinders, abrasive wheels, or lathes. | 8.3% | 4.2% | 87.5% | 3.69 | untouched |
| Grind out burrs or sharp edges, using portable grinders, speed lathes, or polishing jacks. | 8.3% | 4.2% | 87.5% | 3.42 | untouched |
| Examine completed workpieces for defects, such as chipped edges or marred surfaces and sort defective pieces according to types of flaws. | 7.9% | 4.6% | 87.5% | 4.56 | untouched |
| Measure completed workpieces to verify conformance to specifications, using micrometers, gauges, calipers, templates, or rulers. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.67 | untouched |
| Load workpieces, plastic material, or chemical solutions into machines. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.23 | untouched |
| Clean work area. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.85 | untouched |
| Lubricate workpieces with oil. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.50 | untouched |
| Install, align, and lock specified punches, dies, cutting blades, or other fixtures in rams or beds of machines, using gauges, templates, feelers, shims, and hand tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.47 | untouched |
| Position, align, and secure workpieces against fixtures or stops on machine beds or on dies. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.28 | untouched |
| Set stops on machine beds, change dies, and adjust components, such as rams or power presses, when making multiple or successive passes. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.19 | untouched |
| Clean and lubricate machines. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.12 | untouched |
| Position guides, stops, holding blocks, or other fixtures to secure and direct workpieces, using hand tools and measuring devices. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.02 | untouched |
| Place workpieces on cutting tables, manually or using hoists, cranes, or sledges. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.94 | untouched |
| Replace defective blades or wheels, using hand tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.93 | untouched |
| Mark identifying data on workpieces. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.83 | untouched |
| Hone cutters with oilstones to remove nicks. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.82 | untouched |
| Remove housings, feed tubes, tool holders, or other accessories to replace worn or broken parts, such as springs or bushings. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.72 | untouched |
| Scribe reference lines on workpieces as guides for cutting operations, according to blueprints, templates, sample parts, or specifications. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.55 | untouched |
| Use equipment designed to join sheet metal, such as spot welders. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.37 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.